Wednesday, January 30, 2013

The Lulu App: "Sure, it could cause trouble for some good guys," but it's worth it!

The "Lulu" app is yet another internet forum that invites young women to say what they want about young men with, apparently, no method to verify the accuracy of what is written. A writer at the University of Arizona's student newspaper described it as follows:

Lulu is an iPhone and Android app that allows women to rank men based on performance, commitment, ambition and a variety of factors that make up a profile, replete with information culled from Facebook. It’s an open platform that takes cues from Yelp and applies them to men, with ratings and attributes changing as more women complete reviews on a man’s profile. The best attributes on a profile are hashtagged, allowing users to click on that trait and see more men like him. And no, guys, this is a girl’s game only: In order to fully use Lulu, you must be denoted as female via your Facebook profile.

A comment under the story from "Sean" stated: "The disgusting thing is if men created a similar service, feminists would be up in arms about how sexist it is."

A response from "Sarah P" is breathtaking:

I see what you're saying, but this app could also help keep women safe. Have you seen the statistics on rape recently? No matter how cute that guy at the bar may be, if you catch a cab back to your place together, you're taking a risk. Sure, if it became widespread enough, Lulu could cause trouble for some good guys. But it could also help women steer clear of controlling, abusive, and dangerous guys.

That said, I doubt that Lulu was really designed for anything more than entertainment, or that anyone is likely to take it seriously in the end. Anyone who has the app is well aware of how easy it is to leave a bogus rating on someone's profile, whether just for fun or with malicious intent. Even if Lulu does become A Thing among the college population, hopefully most of us are smart enough to know by now that you can't believe everything you read on the Internet.

(Emphasis added.) There you have it. "Sure," the Lulu App "could cause trouble for some good guys," but Sarah P thinks it's worth it! Why? Because it will keep women safe by helping them stay clear of rapists or other male miscreants. But, she adds, everybody knows not to believe everything they read on the Internet.

Except if everybody knows not to believe what's written on this site, how on earth will this Lulu App help keep women safe? And is that how they are teaching you to think and reason at the University of Arizona, Sarah P?

We agree that this forum could "cause trouble for some good guys." That, of course, is reason enough to put an end to it.

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Every civilized society must strive to eradicate heinous criminality by punishing offenders, but it also must insure that the innocent aren't punished with them. The latter concern typically is absent from the public discourse. Accusations of serious criminality, especially alleged sexual wrongdoing, are often their own convictions in the high court of public opinion because the stigma is so severe, and because definitively proving innocence in a disputed sex case often is impossible. This blog highlights the injustices suffered by persons wrongly accused of serious criminality.